Sole



F. H. MARTIN:

Nov. 26, 1940.

SOLE

Filed Oct. 14, 1939 /8 27 ENZUL JEEQEEiJ/f EJ755772? Patented Nov. 26, 1940 1 UNITEDUSTA'TES PATENT OFFICE; 2,223,073 i w SOLE Frederick H. Martin, Belmont, Mass, assignor to The B. F. Goodrich Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application October 14, 1939, Serial No 299,478

2 Claims.

This invention relates to the manufacture of footwear and more particularly to the manufacture of footwear having soles of felt or similar fibrous material and is especially useful in manufacturing boots, galoshes and other footwear.

It has been proposed to provide boots and other articles of footwear with a tread layer of felt or similar fibrous unwoven material, to provide resistance to slipping on ice and Wet stones. Such soles while providing the desired resistance to slipping have not been completely satisfactory due to the fact that they spread under the weight of the wearer, especially when the felt is wet and have been difiicult to secure satisfactorily to articles of footwear.

The principal objects of the present invention are to provide increased frictional resistance against slipping, to provide against separation of the sole from the article of footwear, to prevent spreading of the sole under the weight of the wearer, to prevent moisture from travelling through the sole to the foot of the wearer, and to facilitate manufacture.

These and other objects will appear from the following description and the accompanying drawing.

Of the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view illustrating the assembly of the materials from which the sole is to be made in accordance with the invention, the various materials being shown in the relative positions in which they are to be assembled and separated to show their construction.

Fig. 2 is a perspective View ofthe assembled slab of material illustrating the manner in which the soles are to be cut from the assembled slab, one of the soles being shown as removed after the cutting operation.

Fig. 3 is a reversed plan View of one of the soles after the sewing operation has been performed thereon.

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional View thereof taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of a boot having the sole of this invention applied thereto, the top of the boot being broken away, the toe portion of the boot being shown partly broken away and partly in section.

Referring to the drawing; the numeral Ill designates the boot or other article of footwear to which the sole II has been applied. The boot I 0 preferably comprises layers of rubber and rubberized fabric material assembled in the ordinary way to provide an upper and insole assembly of the parts being assembled about a last in the usual manner. The sole comprises a layer l2 of felt and a layer l3 of rubberized fabric and a layer M of rubber assembled in face to face relation, the rubberized fabric layer l3 being cemented to the felt layer I2 and the unvulcanized rubber layer 14 being adhered over the rubberized fabric.

An additional layer l5 of feltmay be secured over the layer l2 of felt to provide additional thickness in the region of the heel, the adhesion of the two layers of felt to each other being accomplished by the use of rubber cement or any other suitable cementitious material. The rubber layer l4 provides a good adhesive surface which may be used for uniting the sole to the lasted parts of the upper. The layer iii of rubberized fabric bonds the rubber layer to the layer I2 of felt and resists spreading of the felt in use and the layers l3 and I4 prevent the travel of moisture from the sole in the insole of the article of footwear.

To provide further resistance tospreading and resistance to separation of the various layers comprising the sole, the assembled sole is provided with spaced lines I6, I! and E8 of stitching extending around the sole near its margins and over its entire surface. In manufacturing the article a layer i9 of unvulcanized rubber material and a layer 20 of rubberized fabric, each having a width slightly in excess of the length of the desired sole and of any desired length, are as sembled upon each other in face to face relation as by calendering the rubber layer and applying it on the calender to the face of the rubberized fabric. A layer of felt material 2| is then assembled over the layers [9, 20 in contact with the layer 20, a coating of cement 22 being applied to adhere the felt to the rubberized fabric. A sec-- ond strip of felt material 23 of sufl'icient width to provide the additional thickness at the heel and preferably having a bevelled margin 24, is

' adhered to the layer of felt 2| by a coating of cement 25 along one margin of the strip 2|. The assembled slab of material can be fed through a cutting machine such as a clicking machine, sole dinking machine or punch press and a series of soles may be cut in succession from the slab by successive cuts 26, 21 and 28. The layers of stitching l6, I1, l8 are then applied to the cut out soles, the stitches passing through all of the layers. The assembled sole may then be applied to the elastic upper by the use of cement. While it is preferred to use felt as a body material for making the sole, other slab materials comprising fibers affording the proper resistance to slipping all of said layers being secured in assembled relation by a stitching of thread.

2. A sole for footwear comprising a tread layer of fibrous unwoven material, a reinforcing layer of rubberized Woven material on the attaching face thereof and adhered thereto, and a layer of unvulcanized rubber on the exposed face of the fabric for securing it to an article of footwear, all of said layers being secured in assembled relation and reinforced against spreading by a stitching of-thread comprising stitches closely distributed over their entire area.

FREDERICK H. 

